The Last Party

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, illness, death, child death, child sexual abuse, child abuse, emotional abuse, mental illness, and substance use.

Perla is the protagonist of The Last Party and is an antihero. From the outside, she appears flawless: She is beautiful and wealthy, with a handsome, doting husband and a well-behaved daughter. Perla’s narration contradicts her well-groomed exterior, revealing a selfish and amoral personality. She is obsessed with status markers and with receiving the life she thinks she deserves. To further her own ends, she deceives and uses others without remorse.

Perla is extremely possessive of the men in her life, wanting to be the sole object of their attention and attraction, an obsession that encompasses both Grant and Leewood. Perla keeps Grant under her control via emotional abuse, highlighting The Danger of Control in Relationships. Though she craves his validation, she finds him weak and unappealing. By contrast, Perla is deeply attracted to Leewood and wants to start a relationship with him at any cost.

As Perla plans the murder of her daughter and two other young girls, she works overtime to keep up the façade of a perfect wife and mother.